Benson, Renaldo “Obie”, 69, Singer; lung cancer (July 1, 2005)
The lung cancer was discovered when he had a leg amputated several weeks before because of circulation problems
The Four Tops “Baby I Need Your Loving,” ”Reach Out (I’ll be There),” ”I Can’t Help Myself,” ”Standing in the Shadows of Love.” Wrote

Blake, Amanda, 60, actress; throat cancer complicated by a type of viral hepatitis brought on by AIDS, according to her physician, Lou Nishimura. (August 16, 1989)
Miss Kitty on Gunsmoke;
At 48, Blake, once a 2-pack a day smoker, had a malignant tumor removed from her tongue; she re-learned how to speak, toured for the American Cancer Society, and fought oral cancer until her death 12 years later. President Reagan presented her with the ACS’s “Courage Award” in 1984. Dr. Nishimura contributed his information in a 1991 UPI item.

Crawford, Victor,63, tobacco lobbyist-turned-tobacco-control-advocate; lung cancer (March 2, 1996)
Coined the phrase, “Health Nazis” I used the oldest trick in the book — when there’s no way you can attack the message, attack the messenger. There was no way I could attack anything advocates said about health and addiction and win. It wasn’t even an option. So I’d always say, `Well, the jury’s still out on the health stuff, but that’s not the real issue. The real issue is freedom of choice, freedom of choice, and these health Nazis want to take it away!'”

Dederich, Charles E., 83, addiction counselor, heart and lung failure (March 4, 1997)
Founder and head of Synanon, Dederich in 1971 decided not only to stop supplying his community of ex-heroin addicts cigarettes without charge but also to ban smoking on Synanon property. The next year is one of the most tumultuous in Synanon’s history to that point. About 100 people left. At least one member told the New York Times that quitting tobacco was much harder than quitting heroin.

Finks, Jim, 65; football team president/manager; lung cancer (1993)
Much-admired New Orleans Saints football team president and general manager. Credited with helping to bring about the return of the Chicago Cubs and New Orleans Saints. From Tobacco News, 6/10/93: There is no smoking anymore on the grounds of the New Orleans Saints’ mini camp. Signs went up on orders of owner Tom Benson, after . . . Jim Finks was diagnosed with lung cancer April 30. “There’s no smoking anywhere on the Saints property,” Coach Jim Mora said. “And I mean anywhere.”

Gargan, William, 73, actor; heart attack (February 17, 1979)
50s TV detective series, Martin Kane
Gargan would hang out at Happy McMann’s Tobacco shop, touting his sponsor’s products. His career ended when he lost his larynx to cancer in 1960. He became the spokesman for the American Cancer Society, speaking out against smoking.

Godfrey, Arthur, 80, radio/TV entertainer; emphysema (diagnosed with lung cancer in 1959, then recovered after surgery) (March 16, 1983)Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts “Smoke ‘em by the carton”; also advised people not to smoke, but if they did, to smoke Chesterfields. For a classic medical claim, see, http://roswell.tobaccodocuments.org/pages/godfrey.htm

Gray, Les, 57, singer, heart attack. (February 21, 2004)
The lead singer of 1970s chart topping band “Mud” had been battling against throat cancer, and had opted for chemotherapy over removal of his voice box.

Harrison, George, 58, musician; lung cancer (November 29, 2001)
The “Quiet Beatle.” He had been battling various forms of the disease for at least three years: In 1998, he underwent radiation therapy for throat cancer, which he attributed to years of smoking.

Kaufman, Andy, 35, lung cancer (1984)(Kaufman only smoked in-character, but played for years in smoky clubs.)

Kieslowski, Krzystof, 54, film director; heart attack (March 13, 1996)Blue, White, Red
Retired to a house in 1994: “There is a veranda and a chair. I’ll have lots of books, lots of cigarettes, lots of coffee. Don’t you sometimes dream of the same thing?”

King Edward VII of England, 69, pneumonia; he suffered for years from a series of heart attacks, chronic bronchitis and emphysema. (May 6, 1910)
As the Prince of Wales he helped make smoking, and particularly cigar smoking, fashionable. He smoked twelve large cigars and twenty cigarettes a day. In 1876, he gave Benson & Hedges its first royal warrant. Edward VII became king on the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, at the age of 59. Legend has it that he said to his friends in Buckingham Palace upon his mother’s death: “Gentlemen, you may smoke.”

King Edward VIII of England, 77, throat cancer. May 28, 1972
Later titled as: Duke of Windsor when he abdicated the throne to marry Mrs. Wallis Warfield Simpson.

King George V of England, 70; he suffered from bronchitis and numerous lung problems; his death was thought to be from a viral respiratory infection. (January 20, 1936)

King George VI of England, 56; a lung cancer sufferer who had had part of his lung removed, he died of a massive heart attack. (February 6, 1952)
Father of Queen Elizabeth II

Knapp, Caroline, 42; writer; lung cancer(2002)Drinking: A Love Story; Appetites
In “Drinking,” she attends a stop-smoking session, but decides alcohol is her real problem; is puzzled when her dying mother askes her to give up smoking.”Appetites” does not address smoking at all.

Marx, Groucho, 86, actor/entertainer; lung cancer. (Aug. 19, 1977) (Disputed: cause of death may have been pneumonia. Groucho had been ailing since he had a heart attack and several strokes in 1971)A Day at the Races; You Bet Your Life

Matthau, Walter, 79, actor; heart attack. (June 30, 2000)The Fortune Cookie, The Odd Couple, Grumpy Old Men
While making “The Fortune Cookie” in 1966, he suffered a serious heart attack. His doctor attributed it to smoking three packs a day and constant worry about gambling and told him to give up both. Matthau stopped smoking. In 1976, he underwent heart bypass surgery.

Nye, Carrie, 69, stage actress; lung cancer (July 14, 2006)
Wife of Dick Cavett, who said, “she tried to quit a couple of times [but smoking] became part of her early persona; perhaps based on Tallulah Bankhead or Marlene Dietrich.”

Peppard, George, actor; “complications arising from the treatment of cancer”; Peppard had smoked 2 packs a day until 1993, when he had a cancerous tumor removed from his lung (May 8, 1995)Breakfast at Tiffany’s, A-Team

Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowden, 71, UK Royal Family; stroke/heart attack (February 9, 2002)
During her life, she suffered migraines, laryngitis, bronchitis, hepatitis and pneumonia. In 1985, tissue taken from her left lung proved to be benign. This did not stop her smoking; nor did the fact that four monarchs – Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII and the Princess’s own father, George VI – died of smoking-related illnesses. Within months of the biopsy operation she was smoking 30 cigarettes a day. She had apparently given up smoking when she suffered her first, mild stroke in 1998.

Rogers, Stan, 33, Canadian folksinger, airliner fire caused by smoking(1983)“Northwest Passage,” “The Mary Ellen Carter.” This incident was instrumental in the later ban on airplane smoking. See http://www.rambles.net/one_warm89.html

Ruff, Patsy, 56, one of the world’s first successful double-lung transplants, kidney failure (October 21, 2000)
After her 1987 transplant, Ruff worked for the American Lung Association, warning about smoking. . . the anti-rejection drugs Ruff took led eventually to kidney failure.

Sartre, Jean-Paul, 74, philosopher (existentialism), author; After 2 heart attacks (1971, 1973), his health was never the same; his sight failed almost totally and his production diminished; In March of 1980, he was hospitalized for edema of the lungs, and died a few weeks later. (April 13, 1980)
1964 Nobel Prize in Literature No Exit, Nauseau, St. Genet

Sayre, Nora, 68, author; emphysema (August 8, 2001)“Sixties Going on Seventies” (1973), “Running Time: Films of the Cold War” (1982), “Previous Convictions: A Journey Through the 1950s” (1995), and “On the Wing: A Young American Abroad” (2001) “Known for her chain-smoking and irascible personality”

Scott, George C., 71, actor; ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (September 22, 1999)
Scott suffered several heart attacks over the years. He claimed he got his gravelly voice from “smoking too many cigarettes.”Patton, Dr. Strangelove, The Hustler, Anatomy of a Murder, The Hospital

Talman, William, actor; lung cancer (August 30, 1968)
D.A. Hamilton Burger, Perry Mason TV Series
When He came down with lung cancer, He was the first actor to do a TV commercial on the danger of smoking. (Internet Movie Database) He died before the commercial aired.

Tarbox, Barb, 42; former Canadian model became a tobacco control activist, lung cancer (May 18, 2003968)

You are all so much above this. You’re intelligent. You’re energetic. You have the world before you in the palms of your hands. Any dream you have is possible. But if you walk the path I walked, this is the path you will walk. And I don’t want any of you ever to walk this walk.

Tierney, Gene, 70, actress; emphysema (November 6, 1991)Laura, Leave Her to Heaven
The squeakiness of her voice in her first film, “The Return of Frank James,” impelled her to take up smoking cigarettes.

“Everybody on the Flintstones smoked and all of them ended up dying of smoking-related diseases. . . That little cute laugh that Betty and Wilma did with their mouths closed? They came up with that because when they normally laughed, because they were smokers, they coughed.”

Varney, Jim, 50, actor; lung cancer (February 10, 2000)
“Ernest P. Worrell”Though hopelessly hooked on cigarettes, he wouldn’t allow himself to be photographed smoking, for the sake of all the kids who loved Ernest. And, though he entertained them by clowning, sprawling, grinning and cutting up, the talented Mr. Varney had one last message for those kids: Don’t smoke. –Lexington Herald-Leader 2/11/00

Walker, Nancy, 69, actress; lung cancer (March 25, 1992)

Wayne, John, 72, actor; After exposure to nuclear radiation, cancer took a lung in 1963; had many battles with heart disease and other cancers. (June 11, 1979)Stagecoach; Red River; Fort Apache; Rio Grande; She Wore a Yellow Ribbon; The Searchers and this Camel commercial: http://www.tvparty.com/g2c/waynecamel.ram

Yennimatas, George, Greek National Economy Minister, 55; complications from lung cancer (April 25, 1994)
Yennimatas was one of Greece’s most beloved politicians. When he presented the 1994 budget to reporters in November, he announced a new tax on tobacco, saying the revenues would be earmarked for an anti-smoking campaign.

By the looks of this list it would appear that smoking cigarettes is not as cool as you thought is it? As we had into the new year, maybe this might be a time to think about stopping smoking? The makers of Smoke Away implore you to try whatever you think might help you quit smoking.

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29 comments

[…] smoke and ask/learn why they don’t smoke? Put them as examples. Or make inversely find out 227 famous people who died because they smoked. Also did you know about Anti Smoking Campaign by American Top Models? – they point to smoking side […]

The election results got me so stressed out, I almost starting smoking again. Read this list and decided against it. Smokers are forever trying to rationalize their habit. If this list had a few more people that made it to their 70’s and 80’s I probably would’ve gone for it.

All but a few these famous people live to be 65-80 years old…is not 71 the national average for death in the United States? I’ll be the devil but I think thier is no relation between these people’s death and thier smoking habit. If there was a list of famous people who simply died of a heart deisiese, heart attack or cancer who didn’t smoke it would be thousands of names long and 85% of them would of been between the age of 65 and 85 years old. Conclusion: The data is being presented in a facist manner. With that said I do not beleive smoking is a good habit. I see it as gross and unattractive. What do you all think?

Sure, smoking is detrimental to health. It’s a fact. HOWEVER, not everyone on this list died BECAUSE they smoked. Namely John Candy, who was obese, Frank Sinatra, who had several health problems, as well as others. I’m not saying smoking didn’t contribute to their health declines, I’m saying smoking did not kill them, and there is no evidence to say that the cigarette was the deadly weapon.

Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis did not die because she smoked. She died from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which is NOT caused by smoking. Study after study has revealed that neither genetics nor smoking seem to contribute to NHL

Reports are that she quit smoking when she was diagnosed. So did my 19-year-old daughter. Most freshly-diagnosed cancer patients do. But please… if you’re trying to get a truth message across to people, then actually tell the truth. Smoking cigarettes did NOT cause Jackie O to contract non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and consequently die.

This list is bogus propaganda. 90% of the people listed here died in old age. What, are you saying if they did not smoke instead of dying at 75 they would have made it to 100? Give me a break. People that never smoke and exercise daily are lucky to make it past 60 without getting some disease or dying of a heart condition. The list would have more merit if these people died in their prime. You don’t die at 80 because you smoked cigarettes; You die at 80 because your old.So what if they had lung cancer or a heart attackr-they were going to die anyway.

Cigrate spoils our society.It pollute our circumtances. It sucks our blood, heart, and soul. Millions of persons suffering from lung cancer, asthama, bronchoitis due to smoking. Lakhs of people die to smoking. So we must uproot this evil from this global village.
Thanks
Abhijit

Know that if you smoke, you don’t choose to smoke. The addiction chooses for you. You’re not in control of where you go and who you spend your time with. The cigarettes are in control of your thoughts, feelings, and actions. You wrap your life around when and where you can smoke.

Wherever you are, whether it’s at school, at work, at a movie theater or restaurant, you’ll go outside so you can smoke. You’ll put up with great discomfort so you can smoke. You’ll go smoke in the rain, in the freezing cold, in the middle of the night – instead of staying inside where it’s warm, dry, and safe.

You know smoking is bad for you, but instead of dealing with it, you will make excuses and rationalize it. You will tell people that you don’t want to smoke, you have to. Or you’ll say the opposite, that you don’t need to smoke, you just want to. That it’s only for a little while. That you’ll try to quit soon. That it doesn’t really bother you.

They are nothing but lies. And you know it. But you’ll say them anyway, you will intentionally lie – to friends, to family, to yourself. Because your only other option is to quit smoking. There’s no middle ground.

But think about it. If smoking was actually good for you, doctors would tell you to improve your health by smoking. Senior Citizens would smoke all the time. And all those years of smoking would improve their health. But you rarely see a Senior smoking. You’re more likely to see Seniors hooked up to oxygen bottles because they smoked.

If you want a chronic nagging cough and extra colds with more severe symptoms that take longer to go away; if you want to face the possibility of having your voice box removed; if you want to be hooked up to an oxygen bottle that you must take with you everywhere you go; if you want to be diagnosed with cancer, knowing that it could have been prevented if only you hadn’t smoked or had quit smoking; and then finally die an early and painful death, go ahead and smoke.

My dad a heavy smoker died from lung cancer which had spread to his brain he was 57. My brother died from lung cancer he was a heavy smoker 60 years old. My wife a 2 pack a day Marlboro smoker just died from lung cancer which spread to her brain she was 58 and otherwise in perfect health every member of her family lived to be over 90 before they passed away non of them were smokers. A fact 440,000 people died from cancer and other nicotine related diseases caused from smoking in US last year 5.5million worldwide Millions of these people were under 55. A coincidence you say ?

My dad a heavy smoker died from lung cancer which had spread to his brain he was 57. My brother died from lung cancer he was a heavy smoker 60 years old. My wife a 2 pack a day Marlboro smoker just died from lung cancer which spread to her brain she was 58 and otherwise in perfect health every member of her family lived to be over 90 before they passed away non of them were smokers. A fact 440,000 people died from cancer and other nicotine related diseases caused from smoking in US last year 5.5million worldwide Millions of these people were under 55 hardly old age.

My dad a heavy smoker died from lung cancer which had spread to his brain he was 57. My brother died from lung cancer he was a heavy smoker 60 years old. My wife a 2 pack a day Marlboro smoker just died from lung cancer which spread to her brain she was 58 and otherwise in perfect health every member of her family lived to be over 90 before they passed away non of them were smokers. A fact 440,000 people died from smoking related diseases US last year 5.5million worldwide Millions of these people were under 55 hardly old age.

I’m going to tell you something; I agree not everyone on the list died from smoking. I will also say that here in America we should always have the right to choose what we want to do with or to our bodies. That being said, my mother just passed away from lung cancer. Yes, she was 80yrs. old and many of you younger people may see that as no big deal. However, we all definitely believe that had she not smoked, she would or possibly could have lived another 10 yrs. She was sharp as a whip, had alot to live for in terms of family and interests and the love of friends. She was perfectly fine healthwise until diagnosed a year and a half before her passing. My point is when you get to be 80, if you are lucky enough, most would love to have those extra 10 years. The smoking and lung cancer could have been prevented. Education is paramount in persuading people to quit. And by the way, when she got her diagnosis she quit cold turkey and said she didn’t have any withdrawal whatsoever. After 60+ yrs. of smoking 2 packs a day. Go Figure.

Have you guys/gals ever heard of the scientific method? I know education is on the decline in the States, but really now. There is not a single person on your “list” who’s death has 100% been proven to have been caused by smoking. Science has not yet proven one single case of cancer CAUSED by smoking whether first or second hand. John Candy did mountains of Cocaine through out his career. Did that not have an effect? You also list Sartre’s vision problems, claiming “his sight failed almost totally” even though his visual problems were caused by the disease Strabismus, which he was diagnosed with at a young age.

Omg I love jonh wayne his my man i didnt know he died of lung cancer and heart diese thats so sad i love his movie and his acting if i was older or he was younger i would so toldly try to date him john wayen for ever i dont smoke and i dont ever want to my family smoke and i get alot of 2nd hand smoke i dont want to i dont know what to do 3 people smoke in my house and around me and thats not even my friends i get so much 2nd hand smoke that some times i coufe up a little blood i dont know if thats the reason why but im going to find out.